SINGAPORE
— Discussions on the high-speed rail (HSR) project between Singapore
and Malaysia will continue “in the coming weeks”, after Transport
Minister Khaw Boon Wan met Malaysia’s Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed
Azmin Ali last weekend.
Singapore’s Ministry of Transport (MOT) confirmed the
meeting between the two sides took place on Saturday (Aug 11), but did
not disclose details of what was discussed.Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on Sunday
that the meeting was held to resolve issues related to the project. He
added that a detailed report will be presented to the Malaysian Cabinet this week.
Saturday’s meeting took place after Singapore repeatedly asked Putrajaya to clarify its position on the rail project.
First proposed by Malaysia in 2013, the HSR is a 350km line
that was meant to slash travel time by train between Singapore and
Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur to 90 minutes.However, its fate has been uncertain since the new Pakatan
Harapan government won the Malaysian general election in May, with Prime
Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and some of his Cabinet ministers
vowing to scrap the project in order to trim the country’s RM1 trillion
(S$336 billion) debt.
Since then, Putrajaya has sent mixed signals on the issue,
saying that it wants to postpone the project instead of cancelling it.Malaysia has also made conflicting remarks on the proposed meeting to discuss the matter with Singapore.Early last week on Aug 6, Mr Azmin told Malaysia’s national
news agency Bernama that he had met Singapore authorities a few days
before, while he was here visiting Malaysia’s Home Minister Muhyiddin
Yassin. Mr Muhyiddin was in a Singapore hospital recuperating from
surgery to remove a pancreatic tumour.
Mr Azmin did not reveal who were the Singapore officials he met.A spokesperson from MOT later refuted his claim, saying that no meeting had been scheduled nor had one taken place between Mr Azmin and Singapore officials overseeing the HSR project.The following day, in an apparent U-turn, Mr Azmin denied meeting Singapore officials, but added that a date for talks had been arranged.
Last month, Mr Khaw revealed in Parliament that Singapore
had sent a diplomatic note to Malaysia on June 1. This was to get
confirmation on its official position regarding the stalled project.
On July 20, the MOT said that it again asked Putrajaya to
clarify its official position in writing by July 31 and to indicate,
also by that date, if it still wished to hold bilateral talks.It later received a letter from Mr Azmin dated July 23,
where he said that the Malaysian government was “studying the details of
the HSR project and will commence discussions with Singapore soon”.Mr Azmin then told reporters on July 31 that the deadline of July 31 set by Singapore was a “suggestion”.
“That is Singapore’s suggestion. As I mentioned in my
letter last week (to Singapore) we will firm up the date,” he added. “We
are quite occupied for Parliament, hopefully we will meet in early
August.”
In the meantime, Singapore continues to incur cost on the project,
with expenditure expected to hit some S$300 million by year-end, Mr Khaw
told Parliament early July, warning that a “significant” amount of the
funds spent would be “completely wasted” if the project was called off.
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